Convergence Design Examples

Convergence design is not new: it has been and is being practiced across many design-related fields (perhaps most notably architecture). However in digital product design, convergence design needs to be made explicit. Not as a new design discipline (there are too many job titles out there already), but as an increasingly important skill that practitioners need to be able to articulate and utilize. Success comes when convergence design begins to show up on designer’s resumes and employer’s job descriptions.

Building the right bridges between product and process and between technology, marketing, business, and user experience is how tomorrow’s companies will thrive. Some examples:

Brand Fusion: The Industrial Design of Yves Béhar
“Béhar’s ideology, which is founded on the construction of a conceptual narrative that guides interaction with the designed object, has allowed him to move seamlessly from classic industrial design to the creation of lifestyle objects and brand development. Béhar’s method is emblematic of a new vision that takes inspiration from the experience of the user.

A completely new breed of industrial designer is emerging, moving beyond the age-old problems of functionality and employing a variety of methodologies that reflect current needs, contexts, materials, and technologies. Borrowing from other disciplines to build narrative around their products and to infuse them with unique character, Béhar and his colleagues are redefining the nature of industrial design.”

NextD: Next Design Leadership Institute
"Unlike traditional design, NextD focuses on building cross-disciplinary leadership skills and behaviors. NextD is designed to not only scale-up problem solving skills but to make such ability applicable as the primary form of leadership navigation in any kind of problem solving situation. Unlike traditional design, NextD recognizes a multitude of possible value creating outcomes beyond the creation of objects. We already know that in addition to a discipline specific design skills foundation, Next Generation Design Leaders need:

Mastery of new scaled up problem solving skills that better match the size and complexity of challenges facing clients, facing the world today.

Mastery of new cross-disciplinary communication skills to better reflect how complex problems are addressed in organizations today.”